can someone explain heart rate and fitness?

fyoufat
fyoufat Posts: 85
in Fitness and Exercise
Can someone explain to me about fitness and heart rate. This is what I think I know-the zone I should be in, and I know that you can gauge your fitness levels by how hard to have to work to get your heart rate faster.

I have been doing cardio (among other exercise) about 30-45 mins a day 5 days a week for a couple months and my heart rate seems to improved, but not drastically only by a couple bpm. For example, I think my resting heart rate is like 70 and the zone I should target for is 135-165. I love jogging, but what prevents me from going faster is my heart rate. My legs and lungs are fine but my heart rate goes up to 175/ 180 and I am afraid I am going to have a heart attack or something so I slow down until my rate gets to like 145-so right now I am doing intervals.

It doesn't take long for it to go down, maybe 30 seconds and I don't know if that is good or bad (I'm guessing bad). I also know there is a range where you take more calories from fat and a higher range where you take more from muscle or something. I don't really care about that because my goals are to just get my endurance up to eventually run a 10k one day.

Replies

  • ladyphoto
    ladyphoto Posts: 192 Member
    thanks for posting- I am also curious about this topic
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    When you do cardio exercise, any increase in intensity results in an increase in oxygen uptake, During cardio exercise, heart rate also increases at the same time and rate that oxygen uptake increases.

    So, during cardio exercise, heart rate can be used to gauge your intensity. However, it is important to understand two things: 1) heart rate is an INDIRECT gauge of intensity--it is oxygen uptake that is driving heart rate and 2) each person is going to have their own "scale" of heart rate response.

    So, long story short, a heart of 170-180 may not be that high for someone with a max heart rate of, say, 210. Someone 29 years old is not going to hurt their heart by exercising at the heart rates you describe, especially if your perceived exertion is moderate to somewhat hard.

    Unless you have a medical problem or other condition where you have been told not to exceed a certain heart rate, there is no need to stop exercising based on an arbitrary heart rate limit.

    The most effective cardio exercise program will include a mix of longer, lower-intensity endurance workouts, shorter, high-intensity interval workouts, and some medium-duration, high(ish) intensity "tempo" workouts.

    Do not pay attention to any "fat burning zone" information--that is a "zombie" fitness concept--it has been thoroughly discredited, but refuses to die.
  • IamDoe
    IamDoe Posts: 24
    I'm interested too! If a reply comes up and I miss it, please message me! I'll respond if I see it.
  • Hexahedra
    Hexahedra Posts: 894 Member
    While there's a formula to calculate maximum heart rate, it's actually not very accurate. The best measurement of maximum heart rate is by taking a reading when you are exercising at your maximum capacity, like the point where you feel you're close to collapsing. Once you have your actual maximum heart rate, aim for exercises that don't consistently push it beyond 80% of your max, unless they're HIIT like Tabata.

    http://my.clevelandclinic.org/heart/prevention/exercise/pulsethr.aspx

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